Refrigerating system



May 20 1924. 1,494,858

J A. MERCER ET AL REFRIGERATING S YSTEM Filed June 5, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 362 2 I! 5 H4... 2 jifiiwflizfii w 7 5:5 w a I if 1. o WWW a F TA w s m M W 4 mu Em RG ma mam Em Mm Ann .R J

May 20, 1924.

May 20, 1924. 1,494.858

J. A. MERCER ET AL REFRIGERATING S YSTEM Filed June 5, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 ATTORNEY Patented May 20, 1924.

UNITED STATES PA TENT OFFICE. I

JOHN MERCER, WILLIAM STOLPE, CHARLES HACK, AND ROSS H. HARDIN', OF TOPEKA, KANSAS, ASSIGNORS .TO THE HOME REFBIGEBATING COMPANY, OF TOPEKA, KANSAS, A CORPORATION OF KANSAS.

nnrmfcnaarme SYSTEM.

Application filed June 5,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN A. MERCER, WILLIAM S'roLrE, CHARLES HACK, and Ross H. HARDIN, citizens of the United States, resid' at Topeka, in the county of Shawnee and tate of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerating Systems; and we do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had ,to theaccompanying drawings, and to the figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to refrigerating systems and particularly to a refrigerating system in which the refrigerant may be alternately converted from the liquid phase we vapor phase and vice versa, the refrigerant passing from an impeller or circulating means to a temperature reducing or refrigerating coil in the liquid phase where the refrigerant absorbs the heat of the space surrounding the coil so that it is converted from the liquid phase to the vapor phase and returned to the impeller or circulating means.

In order to insure the conversion of the refrigerant from avapor phase to a liquid phase, the refrigerant is passed through a converter in the form of a condenser which carries off the heat of the vaporized refrigerant as it passes from the circulating means or impeller and preparatory to entering the cooling coil.

Such devices broadly are well known but it is the purpose of our invention to automatically control such a system so that the circulation of the refrigerant will be in response to variations in temperature about the zone to be cooled, the mechanism broadly contemplating means for causing the moving parts of the system to function and cease to function dependent upon the demand made upon the cooling coil, and means is provided whereby. the system can be caused to function at different temperatures by v'arying the position of the controlling means within the cooling room or zone.

Our invention also contemplates a novel form of thermostat,.by means of which the prime mover for operating the movable parts of the system may be caused to func- 1922. Serial No. 565,808.

tion or cease to function in response to variations in temperature within the cooling box or zone about the cooling coil.

Other objects and advantages as well as the novel details of construction of the invention will be specifically" referred to hereinafter, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- 1 is a perspective view of a refrigcrating system constructed in accordance withour invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail perspective view of the contact-operating disks and contacts of the thermostat for controlling the switch which in turn controls the prime mover.

Fig. 5 is a wiring diagram of the electric .CiICllltS for the system.

Fig. 6 is a view partly in elevation and partly in section of the thermostat coil which contains the expansible and contractible fluid for operating the thermostat diaphragm.

F 6 is an elevational view showing the slotlzted wall for adjusting the thermostat col Referring now to the drawings by numerals of reference:

1 designates the prime mover which is shown as an electric motor receiving its current from a suitable source of energy through a novel electric circuit which will be specifically described hereinafter.

The prime mover 1 drives the shaft 2 of a refrigerant circulating means or-compressor 3, which delivers the refrigerant in the vapor phase to a condenser 4 where it is converted into the liquid phase and communicated to a refrigerating coil 5 in the cooling compartment 6 of the refrigerator 7 and after passing through the coil, it is returned to the compressor 3 to again be delivered to the condenser.

The general system just described is well known in the art but our invention contemplates the provision of means for controlling the system so that a more sensitive operation may be maintained and whereby an inexpensive and eflicient organization may be provided, and it may be well to state here that although the system as defined in the following description is capable of being made large enough to have considerable capacity, animportant feature is that itmay be made in comparatively small units so that it will be particularly applicable for use inconnection with domestic refrigerators as distinct from commercial refrigerator, and

f it-is therefore the prime object of the invention to adapt it particularly for domestic use. a

Theicompressor receives the refrigerant from an inter-communicating pipe 8, the receiving end of which is connected to the top of the cooling coil 5 and the discharge end of which communicates with the compression chamber of the compressor. The compressor discharges through the port 9 into a pipe 10, which communicates with the condenser 4 and then with the bottom of the tinuous cooling coil 5 through the pipe 11 in any appropriate manner so that there can be a concirculation of the refrigerant through the ,coil, through the compressor,

through the condenser and back to the coiL' For convenience I may arrange in the pipe 11 near the entrance end of the coil an expansion valve 12 of appropriate construction.

An expansible medium-containing-casing is providedrwithin the-refrigerating compartment 6 and it is shown as comprisin a coil 13, which is supported from the wal of "the compartment 6 by a stud 14, having an annular shoulder or collar 15 adapted to bear against the wall. and provided with a threaded end 16 to receive a wing nut 17. The

1 threaded end 16 passes throu h a. slot 18 so that the coil can be raised an lowered within the com artment so as to present it to zones of di erent temperatures, it being obvious that the coldest part'of the compartment 6 will be near the bottom and the .19, connected b warmest art near the top. The importance of this will be presently apparent.

In order to insulate the coil 13 so that it' will not be influenced by frost from the box next:to the brine tank side, a shield 13 is fastened to the stud 14, this constituting a deflector or insulation wall.

riations in temperatures within the compartder 23' and a panel, preferably glass, so that the parts of the member will not be afl'ected by barometric changes but will respond only to variations of temperature as indicated on the coil 13 (see Fig. 3).

The clamping ring 25 is shown as a support for the contact bars 26 and 27, to which are connected binding posts 28 and 29, the bars overlappin but being spaced apart to permit a movalfie contact 30 supported on the insulation block 31 of the thermostat to play between them. The flexible bar 30 is connected to the diaphragm by an insulated connection 32. Therefore, when the diaphragm moves outwardly away from the back plate 22', the bar 30 will contact with a contacting portion of the bar 27, but when the air within the pipe 19 and coil 13 contracts, the diaphragm will retract, moving the bar 30 against the contacting portion of the bar 26. In order to vary the play of the bar 30 and to insure proper operation, the bar 27 has an adjustable contact pin 33, as will be well understood.

The bar 30 is at all times electrically connected 'to the conductor 34 by a conductor 35; the conductor 34 and a conductor 36 (see Fig. 5) receiving current from the main line cimdgctors 37 and 38 when the switch 39 is c ose The conductor 34 is connected directly with the motor and the conductor 36 is adapted to be interrupted by a switch 40, (Fig. 4), which is adapted to be actuated in response. to the movement of the thermostat, as will be apparent by reference to Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive.

The contact bar 26 is connected to a contact 41 through. a conductor 42, the conductor 42, being in series with a magnetic coil 43 for magnetizing an armature 44, pivoted at 45 and in series with the conductors 36 and 36', the latter being connected to the motor 1 and to a contact clip or socket 46, which will be eifective in conjunction with the knife 47' on the armature 44 of the switch 40 to electrically connect the conductors 36 and 36 to complete the circuit to the motor.

This will only take place, however, when the bar 30 moves out to contact with the contact 33 on bar 27 Then current will flowfrom 34, through conductor 35, to bar 30,- to contact 33, bar 27, through conductor 47, through series wound coil 48 to contact 49, which is similar to 41, through the movable contact lug 50 to armature 44, and through 36. to theline. Therefore, the magnetic the motor to operate it so as to drive the' compressor and start the circulation of the refrigerant through the pipe 8, the compressor, the the pipe 10, the condenser, the pipe 11 and the coil. Just as soon as the temperature within the compartment 6 is reduced low enough to cause a contraction of the air within the chamber 21, pipe 19 and the coil 13, the diaphragm will move the arm 30 awa from contact 33 and allow it to contact wit the contacting portion of the arm 26. Therefore, the circuit through the conductor 47 will be broken and will be established throughconductor 42 to energize the coil 43 to attract the armature 44 so as to move 47 away from 46 and bring 51 into contact with clip 52 because when the arm 30 contacts with the arm 26, the circuit will be established through 34 and 35, arm 30,

contact arm 26, conductor 42, contact 41, movable contacting arm or lug 50, armature 44, and conductor 36. The attraction with the magnet 43 will be suflicient to pull the arm 44 down so that the knife 51 will be received within the socket and at the same time the In 50 moves away from contact 41 so that a l of the circuits will be broken because while the arm 30 will remain in contact with the arm 26, there will be a ga between contact 41 and contact 50 and a thou h the contact 50 is resting on contact 49, there will be a gap between the contact .33 on arm 27 and the arm 30.

During all this time, of course, contacts 46 and 47' are apart and there are no live circuits in the system. Therefore, the movable parts of the system will be inoperative until the temperature in the compartment 6 raises enough to expand the air in the coil 13 to exert pressure against the diaphragm 23 so that the arm 30 will be moved against contact 33 again and the circuit for the magnet 48 re-established to draw the armature down to move the contacts 46 and 47' For example,v

sired to maintain a higher temperature within the box, the coil will be shifted to the bottom so that it will not operate until the bottom of the compartment 6 has had an appreciable temperature rise.

The temperature range at which the air in the coil 13 will operate may be considerable, dependent upon the position of the coil within the compartment 6 and in this respect it is desired to point out that by tempera ture range we mean temperature range within the box 6 as distinct from tem perature range of the air within the coil 13 as, obviously, the air within the coil 13 will have a fixed expansion ratio and contraction ratio, responsive to fixed temperatures irrespective of where it is located within the box 6.

It is to be here stated that the coil 5 may partake of any convenient form, for example, it may be so formed that it may pass around a sub-compartment 5 at the bottom of the compartment 6 so that the zone therein will be cool enough to form 1cubes of ice for drinking water and the ike.

In a refrigerating system, the refrigerant is usually of a volatile nature, one of the most widely known mediums being ammonia and there is danger of this highly volatile medium escaping through the interstices, crevices or joints of the compressor when it is being circulated from the cooling coil to the condenser to be converted from the vapor phase to the liquid phase.

W'hat we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a refrigerating system having a temperature-reducing coil, a motor driven means for circulating a refrigerant through the system, a coil box surrounding the coil, a thermostat having a temperature-responsive device in the coil box for controlling the motor in response to variations in temperature in the coil box, and manually adjustablemeans for shifting the temperature responsive device of the thermostat toward and away from the bottom of the box.

2. In a refrigerating system having a temperature-reducing coil, motor driven means for circulating a refrigerant through the system, a coil box surrounding the coil, a thermostat having a temperature-responsive device in the box for controlling the motor and a contact-actuating device outside the coil box sealed against barometric variations in the outside atmosphere, and means manually adjustable for shifting the temperature-responsive means of the thermostat toward and away from the bottom of the box, the manually adjustable means being adapted to be held in fixed adjusted position.

3. In a refrigerating system having a temperature-reducmg coi motor driven means for circulating a refrigerant through the system, a coil box surrounding the coil, 9. and means for holding the bracket fixed in thermostat having a temperature-responsive any adjusted positlon. 10

I device in the coil box for controlling the motor in response to variations in tempera- 6 ture in the coil box, a bracket for supporting the temperature-responsive device, the bracket projecting through a slot in the coil box and vertically adjustable in said slot,

tures.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signa- JOHN A. MERCER. WILLIAM STOLPE. CHARLES HACK. ROSS H. HARDIN. 

